Shot Through the Heart, and You're to Blame
by reecse42
Summary: Wanda needs to decide if the Avengers initiative is really for her, or if losing her brother cost too much. One night, grief overcomes her and Steve and Natasha try to help her out. One shot. Major AoU spoilers. Disclaimer: I don't own any of these amazing characters.


**Hey I'm back after such a long hiatus! (So sorry about that.) If you read my hunger games fic, don't worry, it's not abandoned, I just haven't worked on it in awhile. I've been super busy, with track, school, work, and life, but since summer is in like 21 days, I'm starting to have more free time.**

 **So this takes place between when the Ultron is defeated and the scene where Steve and Nat are starting to train the new avengers. So yeah.**

 **As soon as school gets out, I'll make sure I update and publish more. The hunger games fic may or may not have a sequel, so if you read it let me know what you think. (Sorry about all the bad transitions in this author note.)**

 **Enjoy!**

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 _Pierto turned to see the hovercraft. It was firing and Clint was standing, staring straight at the pilot with a child in his arms. A look of determination crossed clint's face, like he knew he was going to die saving the kid, and he turned his back, shielding the child, as the shots crept closer._

 _Pietro acted in a split second. Time slowed as he sped up and pushed the closest object in front of Clint. The car was heavy and Pietro strained his muscles as he shoved it. The pain in his arms was bad, but then he felt the bullets bore through his body. It was like getting shot in the arm._

 _But a thousand times worse. His vision tunneled and Pietro stopped. The car was positioned in front of Clint and Pietro was standing in front of that._

At least they're safe _, he thought._

 _"I didn't see that coming," Pietro said breathlessly with a sad smirk plastered on his face as Clint turned around in surprise. He felt woozy and crashed to the ground._

 _That's when the screaming started._

* * *

Wanda sat up in bed with a scream rising in her throat as the dream scrolled across her eyelids. Pietro. Her twin. He was dead and her nightmares were about his death.

She had read Clint's report, but she already knew how he died. She felt her muscles strain as she pushed the car. She felt the bullets tear through her body. She felt her heart stop as his did. She died as he did.

Ultron may have taken the only thing dear to her that day, but she gave him hell. She ripped him apart and left him for dead. She left him like he left her.

It had been three days since Pietro died, and Natasha and Steve wanted to know if Wanda was willing to join the Avengers. She told them what Clint told her, when she stepped out of that building she became an Avenger. She became one of the world's protectors. But Wanda wasn't ready to train with the rest of the team. She felt a gaping absence at her side and she knew it would take more than three days for it to subside. Hell, it would take the rest of her life.

Wanda put her head in her hands. She breathed heavily and and closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry. Thinking of Pietro and her new duties as an Avenger always brought her on the brink of tears. Without her twin, she was nothing, and with the Avengers she was a protector. She couldn't find the ground between the sky and the bottomless pit of despair and she felt like she was falling. Her anchor was gone and now she had to decide what to do.

Feeling tears spill onto her fingers, Wanda swung her legs off the side of the bed, stood up, and rushed out of her room, throwing random doors open with her powers. She ran through the shield compound until she was outside, the cold New York night biting at her bare arms. Wanda ran until she was at the edge of the forest where shield buried the agents who died in action who didn't have a family. She ran to the grave where the soil was still brown from being turned days before.

Wanda fell to her knees in front of Pietro's grave and placed her hands on the headstone. She could feel his name and birthdate carved into the stone. His death date was carved there too, but her fingers stopped moving before she reached it. Instead they drifted lower, to the one line she had inscribed.

"мой дорогой брат , как я скучаю по тебе."

"My dear brother, how I miss you."

Wanda's fingers drifted lower, and she felt the smooth stone tickle her fingertips. Then the rough texture of the dirt as her hands slid off the gravestone. Pietro was there, under a few feet of dirt and placed in a wooden coffin. Her dear twin, set in the earth to rot until he wasn't remembered.

Tears splashed down Wanda's cheeks as she sat in the still air, staring at Pietro's grave. She would sit vigilantly until she could stand the pain no longer, then she would go. She would go join the Avengers and avenge his death. She would carry the weight of her grief until she couldn't anymore, and she would fight for the world.

Tears continued to spill down Wanda's cheeks as she sat in the graveyard. The rest of the forest was silent, holding vigil over the grieving. Wanda could feel the cold tracks the tears made on her face as she sat there. She knew she would have a cold by morning, but the thought wasn't enough to get her to move.

Wanda didn't know how long she had been out when she felt a soft leather jacket wrap around her bare arms. She whipped around and looked up into Steve's worried face. Wanda sniffled a bit before turning back to Pietro's grave. She wasn't in the mood for his sympathy.

"I know what it's like losing someone close to you," Steve said in his thick American accent.

"You don't know what it's like losing your other half," Wanda snarled back, her accent making her sound angrier than she was.

"His name was Bucky, and he was my best friend," Steve continued as if Wanda hadn't interrupted him. "We were in the war together, and we were on a mission. There was a bomb. It blew the wall off the train car we were in, and Bucky was sucked out. He fell into a canyon, and that was the last I had seen of him."

Wanda didn't say anything.

"I soon had to fly a plane into an ice shelf. I thought I was going to join Bucky in the afterlife. I thought I was done and I had fulfilled my life. The war would go on without me and everyone would be fine. I knew Peggy would find someone.

"Seventy years later, and I'm alive. We won the war but lost so much more. I lost my best friend and my best girl. But I kept going. I didn't give up. Nick Fury asked my to join the Avengers and protect the world. And that's exactly what I've been doing since then, and that's what you'll do. When you're ready."

Steve rested a hand on Wanda's shoulder, and she made no move to push it off. She stared straight ahead at Pietro's grave.

"Bucky is the Winter Soldier, and my worst enemy now. But I haven't given up yet. You know Pietro is dead, and you know he won't come back. Only his ghost will haunt you. But it's your choice if you will let his ghost control you," Steve comforted. "I know you can do this Wanda, because you are an Avenger."

"But how do you find the strength to move on?" Wanda asked and she sniffled again. She brought the back of her hand across her face to wipe away the tears.

"You don't. You suck it up," Steve replied. He removed his hand and sat down slowly next to her as if trying not to scare a wild animal.

Wanda laughed dryly. "You don't know anything about comforting anyone."

"I don't, but I'm a hell of a lot better than Natasha. She would've told you to take a few laps and meet her in the gym. Your training would've started earlier with her," Steve replied. "I at least try to connect with your emotions."

"What if I never get over this?" Wanda whispered as she slightly turned toward Steve. "I can't forget Pietro so easily. We were in this together."

"And you still will be," Steve replied. "He's with you in spirit."

"I don't believe in that," Wanda replied. She shifted again so her back was resting on Pietro's gravestone.

"Whatever you believe, you should know Pietro will always be with you," Steve said with another pat on Wanda's shoulder. "Make sure you go back to bed and rest. You've stressed yourself enough for a while."

Steve rose and started to walk a away when he shouted, "Keep the jacket for now!"

Wanda rolled her eyes at his retreating figure. She knew he was trying to help, but his help wasn't wanted at the moment. She wanted Pietro to tell her everything would be all right like he used to.

Wanda closed her eyes and rolled her head back so it was resting against the gravestone. She let her emotions wash over her as Steve's words rolled around in her mind. He wanted her to move on when she was ready, but he had said that he joined the Avengers early and was never given time to grow accustomed to America, or in his case, twenty first century America. Did he want her to be more stable when she started her days as an Avenger? Was it even possible anymore?

A few stray tears leaked out of Wanda's eyes and she wiped them away. She had to be strong now, no matter how hard. She hardened her resolve, and was able to keep more tears back for a few moments before her emotions took over again and she broke down.

Wanda sat there, sobbing and another figure came out and sat beside her. An arm reached across her shoulders and pulled her head against theirs. Wanda buried her head in the person's shoulder and sobbed even harder.

A soft voice started to sing to her in Russian, and Wanda could've sworn it sounded like Pietro. Her sobbing subsided, and she looked up at the figure's face. Natasha Romanoff, the feared ex-assassin was singing Wanda a traditional Russian lullaby. Her voice was low and quiet, like how a mother would sing to a child.

Wanda wiped her face and leaned her head on Natasha's shoulder as Natasha continued to sing. Her arm tightened around Wanda's shoulders, and Wanda felt a sense of peace at the back of her mind, slowly trying to creep in.

It was what Wanda wanted most in that moment. To be at peace and not worry. To not need to grieve. To be happy.

Natasha continued singing for a few more minutes, and Wanda started to feel drowsy. Natasha removed her arm from around the younger woman's shoulders and stood up. She grabbed Wanda's hand and hoisted her up, waking her up fully.

"I want you to take a few laps around the compound and then meet me in the gym," Natasha said as she looked Wanda straight in the face. "You're going to learn how to overcome your emotions in a battle stimulation, and you need to work on your combat skills. If you want to be an Avenger, you need to start training like one."

With that Natasha spun around on her heel and strode back to the compound. She yelled something about returning Steve's jacket to Wanda, and Wanda smiled to herself. Steve wouldn't need his jacket until the morning.

Wanda set off at a brisk jog, the soft leather keeping her arms warm even though she was starting to sweat. The running helped her clear her mind, and soon Wanda was walking into the gym where Natasha was waiting, wearing a pair of boxing gloves with another pair hanging around her shoulders.

"Welcome to the Avengers, kid," Natasha said as she tossed the extra pair to Wanda. "It's time to train."

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 **And that's a wrap! I hope you liked it! I'm sorry if I made Wanda sound like she was not a strong female character, and if that was what you were looking for, Wanda is like this because she is grieving. But Nat was there, ya know. Nat helped her, and I like to think that's why Wanda was so ready to join the Avengers. That's my headcanon for the day.**

 **Also, I'm sorry this isn't as long as my other one shots, but I wrote this on my phone in like half an hour of inspiration.**

 **Please review!**

 **Happy reading! :)**


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